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Pending water shortage prompts emergency declaration
| Thursday, Jun 21 2007 11:10 PM
Last Updated: Thursday, Jun 21 2007 11:15 PM
The Kern County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to declare a water emergency in the county, prompted by concerns of a pending water shortage for farmers.
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The move is related to problems with massive pumps that export water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta down the California Aqueduct.
The Kern County Water Agency adopted an emergency declaration last week and urged the Board of Supervisors to take similar action.
The delta pumps are currently pumping a limited supply of water, a quantity equal to about one-third of normal for this time of year.
In an unprecedented move, the pumps were shut down for 11 days starting May 31 due to a low count of Delta smelt, a threatened fish species that gets sucked into the pumps and killed.
Ongoing limited pumping or another shutdown of the pumps could have major impacts on the amount of water needed by local farmers, water officials told the board.